The present invention relates to a sunlight collecting and concentrating apparatus provided with a mirror or lens means, a tracking means for moving the mirror or lens means to follow daily and hourly changes in the sun's azimuth and altitude, and optical conductor for transmission of the collected sunlight to the region where the sunlight is required.
In recent years, a need has arisen to save energy. Many attempts have been made to provide systems making effective use of the solar light energy reaching the earth's surface. Conventional systems are provided with a mirror or lens means operated to follow the daily and hourly changes in the sun's azimuth and altitude so as to always face the sun and collect solar light energy most effectively. For most effective use, the solar light energy must be directly used in the form of light without conversion to other forms of energy, such as electric or thermal energy.
In view of the above, the present inventor has already developed a sunlight collecting and concentrating apparatus comprising a collector, operable to follow the change in the sun's azimuth and altitude and capable of condensing the collected sunlight, and an optical fiber or other optical conductor for receiving the condensed light. The condensed light is transmitted via the optical fiber to the region where the light is required. Thus, effective collection is attained irrespective of the daily and hourly change in the sun's azimuth and altitude and without any loss due to energy conversion.
In this type of apparatus of the present inventor, the collector is advantageously comprised of a mirror or lens means having two perpendicular axes of rotation one horizontal and the other vertical, independent rotational motion capable by each axis, thus enabling the mirror or lens means to follow the changes in the sun's azimuth and altitude. Thus, the optical conductor connected to the collector and the cables connecting the tracking means with an outside controller tend to become wound up or subject to torsion. This winding or torsion of the optical conductor for the cables adversely affects the tracking operation.